CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.06, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. CME Group had a net margin of 57.83% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.42 EPS.

CME Group Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CME traded up $1.04 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $213.63. The company had a trading volume of 315,651 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,771,397. CME Group has a 1-year low of $175.73 and a 1-year high of $223.80. The stock has a market cap of $76.90 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a P/E/G ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $214.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $211.93.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $1.15 dividend. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. CME Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Argus raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 target price (down previously from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a report on Friday, April 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on CME Group from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $195.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $216.10.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.